SIZING OF AEROSOL PARTICLES BY CENTRIFUGATION

Two centrifuge-type aerosol spectrometers, one cylindrical and one conical in design, employing the rotating ring slit principle of Berner and Reichelt have been built and tested. These spectrometers precipitate aerosol particles on removable foils according to their aerodynamic diameter in centrifugal force fields up to 5000 G. The foils, having simple geometries, are easily analyzed for size distribution of deposited aerosols. The instruments are designed to provide the clean air required in their operation without the use of external apparatus, eliminating the need for auxiliary equipment normally used and, especially, eliminating the need for rotating seals. Although both centrifuges will precipitate particles in the aerodynamic diameter range of 0.1 to 5 μm with good size resolution, the conical model will do so in a single operation. A second foil may be placed in the conical model upon which relatively large amounts of aerosol particles are precipitated in a cumulative size distribution. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.